Daily industrial news and top headlines for plant and maintenance managers

CURTICE, Ohio (AP) — A year ago, William Shanteau and his 13 co-workers at a Detroit auto plant were worried their jobs could be gone at any moment.
Now they're all millionaires after winning a share of last week's $96.9 million Powerball drawing.
Most of the group from the paint shop at a Chrysler plant that makes Jeep Grand Cherokees still plan to keep working, Shanteau said Thursday after working a 12-hour shift.

Snap-on Industrial (Kenosha, WI) is now offering the Mini-Ductor II, a handheld, portable induction heater designed to safely and accurately heat nuts, bolts, and other fasteners, making removal easier. The Mini-Ductor II uses electromagnetic fields to heat the fasteners precisely while leaving the surrounding area untouched.

The DynaCon Vertical Lift Conveyor from Dynamic Conveyor (Muskegon, MI) is ideal for more sustainable material handling, according to the company, due to its ability to save space in crowded manufacturing facilities and be reconfigured when needs change. The Vertical Lift is designed to meet ANSI/ASME B20.

The Combo Roll Groovers from Reed Manufacturing Company (Erie, PA) are now available in a new model for larger pipe, the RGCOMBO812, which forms standard rolled grooves in 8” to 12” steel, stainless steel, and aluminum. The two-in-one tool yields cost savings by allowing a complete change in minutes from power machine operation to manual work, according to the company.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A northwestern Indiana steel company is disregarding a new state law that lets workers bring their guns to work, while other businesses are weighing a possible legal challenge.
A memo to ArcelorMittal workers in East Chicago and Burns Harbor says that federal law pre-empts the state law and that the company will strictly enforce its firearms ban.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A northwestern Indiana steel company is disregarding a new state law that lets workers bring their guns to work, while other businesses are weighing a possible legal challenge.
A memo to ArcelorMittal workers in East Chicago and Burns Harbor says that federal law pre-empts the state law and that the company will strictly enforce its firearms ban.

GREEN ISLAND, N.Y. (AP) — At the Carioto Produce and Seafood warehouse, shrimp from India and Vietnam stock the freezer, while a refrigerated aisle is stacked with bags of clams from Rhode Island, cockles from New Zealand, a fresh 5-pound fillet of lane snapper from Nicaragua and mahi-mahi from Ecuador.

NANTERRE, France (AP) — Judges on Thursday postponed a highly awaited trial on whether a schemer manipulated France's richest woman out of euro1 billion ($1.2 billion) after secret recordings emerged suggesting the L'Oreal heiress was evading taxes by keeping millions in Swiss bank accounts.
The recordings have implications that reach beyond the trial, shaking the highest echelons of power in France and embarrassing the government — in part because the wife of a leading minister worked for the company managing Liliane Bettencourt's fortune.

Kochek Company (Putnam, CT) has introduced a new all-aluminum strainer designed with a self-leveling float system that makes drafting possible under almost any condition. The high intake ratio allows for maximum volume flow rates while the vortex shield protects against whirlpooling.

Edwards (Tewksbury, MA) has launched a new range of dry pumps that enable full process integration. The compact GXS pump features screw technology that enables users to optimize their processes, resulting in a low cost of ownership. According to the company, the GXS has a service life of up to five years and is virtually maintenance-free, even in harsh conditions.

The pneumatic saw and quick-clamp assembly from ESCO Tool (Holliston, MA) lets users cut steel plate up to 2” thick and 15’ wide anywhere there is a 90 psi compressed air supply. The APS-438 Air-Powered Saw and Quick-Clamp lets workers take the saw to the steel plate rather than transporting the plate to a large table saw.

Olympus America Inc. (Center Valley, PA) has signed an agreement with Hirox-USA, Inc. (Hackensack, NJ) to distribute the Hirox KH-7700 Digital Microscope system. The KH-7700 is an all-in-one portable digital microscopy system designed to provide observation for industrial and quality applications.

When it comes to getting the right amount of the right products to market, we need to get the right demand signals to make our critical manufacturing and inventory management decisions. For better or worse, we depend on many aspects of these demands signals: where they come from (our transactional systems, marketing activities, customer research), how complete they are, how accurate they are and how fast we get them.

Safety has been in the news a lot lately. Remember the Upper Big Branch coal mine explosion in April and the HUGE ongoing Gulf of Mexico oil debacle? As always there is enough finger pointing going on to implicate a whole host of manufacturers and operators.

The Plummet from the Paul N. Gardner Company (Gardco; Pomano Beach, FL) is a universal instrument to determine the density of paints or related products. The Plummet works on the “Archimedes” principle, which involves reading the upward force caused by immersing the plummet into the liquid, which is then expressed in grams/ml.

The BinMaster SHT (Super High Temperature) vibrating rod from BinMaster (Lincoln, Nebraska) features a piezo system built specifically for higher process temperatures up to 482°F. The SHT has a reinforced membrane that insulates internal electronics from heat, not to mention an IP66/IP67 aluminum enclosure for further protection.

Lechler, Inc. (St. Charles, IL) has a complete line of full cone spray nozzles to handle capacities from less than a gallon per minute to thousands of gallons per minute. The nozzles cover a complete circular area and are ideal for applications requiring cleaning, cooling, coating, dust suppression, and more.

Industrial Defender, Inc. (Foxborough, MS) announced its Host Intrusion Prevention System (HIPS), an application whitelisting-based security solution that prevents malware attacks on control system servers and end-point devices. The HIPS is ideal for environments where it is critical to avoid the high overhead of software scanning operations, as well as the administrative overload of anti-virus patch updates.

On August 28, 2008, a runaway reaction inside a pesticide residue treater at the Bayer CropScience facility in Institute, W.V., resulted in a violent explosion that propelled the treatment vessel 50 feet through the air and caused extensive damage to the surrounding infrastructure.